1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a watch that, in its most general form, is of the type comprising a dial; at least one hand member having a movable pointing end; and at least a path, with respect to which said movable pointing end is moved, which is provided with an initial position and a final position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several types of watch are known to the art, usually providing an information referring to time, expressed in an analogical or in a digital way.
In both cases, the watch structure is such that said information is provided either with a numerical progression, as e.g., in the normal digital watches having a digit display, or divided into two time intervals, each having a 12-hours length.
Moreover, examples of hand watches do exist wherein the hour hand performs a 24-hours length revolution onto a single dial, reporting the traditional 24-hours division inside two semicircles of 12 hours each.
This type of watch, although providing an accurate information, imposes to the users a division of time that does not coincide with the pace and uses of the daily life, which, although based on the day/night partition, is differently organized.
In fact, it is apparent that, in the traditional hand watches, the division of the possibly graduated path on said dial adopts as initial and final positions the position of midday and midnight, i.e., the climax of the day and the climax of the night.
It is well known that such positions respectively correspond to, more or less, the core of an individual""s working life, imagining a normal working commitment which starts from 8.00 a.m. and lasts until 4.00 p.m., and to the middle of the night, at least from an astronomical standpoint.
In fact, in an age where the daily life was ruled by the lightxe2x80x94dark, i.e., Sunxe2x80x94Moon succession, meant as the motion of a star onto the celestial vault, said traditional positions had a meaning related to the pace and uses typical of that age.
Hence, it was normal and natural for said astronomical motion, having an approximate length of 12 hours, without taking into account the seasonal variation, to be adopted to represent the time path of an entire day.
In the modern age, particularly with the artificial electric lighting, such a representation does not have a direct match anymore, and might give to the user impressions about his/her own daily life that are substantially contradictory and misleading.
Therefore, this division does not tally with the intermissions to which the individual activity of any user that wears, or anyhow benefits from the time information, is subjected.
Moreover, the division into intervals, even if due to specific structural peculiarities of the watch, does not suffice to divide in time the various activities of an individual user, that generally speaking can be divided into three time periods: working time period, 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.; free time period, 4.00 p.m. to midnight; and rest or sleeping period, midnight to 8.00 a.m.
On this ground, EP 0,652,496 A discloses a watch which has a 12-hour dial comprising means for displaying time as measured in the xe2x80x9cAyurvedaxe2x80x9d philosophy. According to the latter, the 24-hour day is subdivided into six sub-periods of four hours each, three sub-periods for the daytime and three identical sub-periods for the nighttime.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 1,500,701 discloses a watch having a 12-hour dial, wherein each hour of an 8-hour working period is subdivided into tenths, in order to simplify counting of the working hours per formed by employees.
However, none of the above known-art watches fully achieves the aim of regulating life according to modern rhythms, as in these watches time is always represented according to a conventional 12-hour scale.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is that of providing a watch allowing to overcome the drawbacks mentioned with reference to the known art.
Such problem is solved by a watch as above described, comprising a single path, with respect to which said movable pointing end is moved, which is provided with an initial position and a final position matching one with the other, wherein the run time of said path from the initial position to the final position, of said movable pointing end, is of eight hours, and wherein the watch further comprises identification means of an 8-hour period corresponding to said path which displays three different temporal conditions.
Within the scope of the same inventive concept, said problem is likewise solved by a watch comprising, on said dial, a single path provided with an initial and a final position separated one from the other, wherein the run time of said path from the initial position to the final position of said movable pointing end is of eight hours, said watch comprising springing back means to make said pointing hand spring back in the initial position once the final position has been reached, wherein said watch further comprises identification means of an 8-hour period corresponding to said path which displays three different temporal conditions.
The main advantage of the watch, according to one of the definitions of the present invention, lies in allowing a representation of the passing of time which is closer to the pace and uses of the daily life.
A remarkable advantage of psychophysical nature ensues therefrom, wherein the structure of said watch provides the user with an information giving a feeling of completeness and of fullness of time.